OMAHA, Neb.—The groups on either side of the fight over race-based affirmative action in Nebraska are raising big bucks.
The Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, which is pushing the proposed ban, has raised more than $609,000. It spent almost all that money by the end of July, according to forms filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. Much of the money went to National Ballot Access, a Georgia-based signature gathering firm.
Nebraskans United, which opposes the ban, has raised more than $350,000. The group had $20,000 left at the end of July.
The secretary of state’s office is counting signatures that were gathered via petition to determine whether the issue will be on the November ballot. Supporters say they gathered 167,000, and they need about 112,000.
A similar measure will appear on Colorado’s ballot.
The initiatives in both states are being backed by the American Civil Rights Initiative’s Super Tuesday for Equal Rights Fund, founded by California businessman and activist Ward Connerly.
Connerly has prevailed three times in past elections, with voters in California, Michigan and Washington approving proposals banning government-sponsored race and gender preferences in public education, state hiring and public contracts.
Supporters say most Nebraskans don’t want race and other factors to be considered in public hiring.
Opponents say thousands of voters were likely duped into signing petitions because the initiatives are described as a ban on discrimination instead of an attack on programs that help women and minorities.
In Nebraska, opponents accuse petitioners of leaving signature lists unattended, filling in information for signers and failing to explain the ballot initiative as required by law. A related lawsuit in Lancaster County District Court challenges the language in the initiative.
Both sides of the issue have well-known donors, according to the disclosure forms.
Warren Buffett has given $50,000 to the opponents, who also got $1,000 from University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman.
State Sen. Danielle Nantkes of Lincoln, who is working for the opponents, has been paid $2,500 in consulting fees and more than $1,500 in office expenses and travel.
Pete Ricketts, a Republican who ran for U.S. Senate in 2006 and lost to Democrat Ben Nelson, gave $15,000 to the supporters. And New York businessman Paul Singer has given $50,000 to backers of the measure. Singer has made sizable donations to political candidates, including former GOP presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, and also gave thousands to political action groups such as the Swift Veterans and POWS for Truth, which campaigned in 2004 against Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
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